One of the main goals of having a website, whether it be a portfolio website or a business website, is todeclare your presence on the Web. There are thousands upon thousands of websites out there; it’s pretty well established that you are competing for your audience’s interest and attention. To this end, it’s important to make those few seconds count when making a first impression.
There are many things happening in web design today. One of the interesting developments is the emergence of responsive web design, in which fluid grids, flexible images, and CSS media queries are used to create more adaptive layouts and hence more elegant user experiences. These designs can adapt to the browser’s viewport, completely changing the layout or the overall design of the page altogether, to fit the available space.
We also see a rising popularity of soft :hover and :active/:focus-effects , where buttons, navigation items and links feel more responsive and engaging as well. The transitions are smooth, and often subtly or vividly animated. Another important development is of course the rich web typography, made possible with the emergence of font embedding services. We have much more freedom for our typographic decisions which is an opportunity to create more diverse, unique and therefore memorable designs.How To Design A Memorable Website?
- Make use of original and unique graphics. Having a large, punchy or slightly quirky graphic on your portfolio can help separate you from the competition.
- Feel free to experiment with non-traditional color combinations. Experiment with various contrasts to create tension, but put readability always first. Invite the users to feel engaged, but keep the page usable.
- Use original, compelling language to clearly emphasize your differences. Unfortunately, your visitors are likely to read only a small percentage of the text on your website. You can pack the most punch in that percentage by using confident opening statements, catchphrases or interesting summaries to pique the interest of your audience.
- Keep things organized. This might go without saying, but if visitors can’t navigate through your website or figure out who you are from the start, chances are they won’t stay around to see your amazing portfolio.
Pixelly Images: A Visual Pun!
United Pixelworkers features a subtly pixellated, textured background as well as foreground images with blocky edges, creating a play on their name which is fun, cute and smart. The texture is so rich, and the information architecture so clean, that this website feels far more content-rich than it actually is.
United Pixelworks uses a static, left-aligned navigation bar
The left-aligned sliding navigation bar is an example of static navigation done right. It’s there, but it doesn’t get in the way of the content and isn’t too obnoxious or obvious. The select color palette and letterpress-style links at the bottom are a nice final touch.
Outback Creative Studio
Large Original Illustrations
Outback Creative Studio features innovative, large navigation buttons on the right side which is a fresh, colorful and inviting approach. The colors, the graphics and the blocky feel of the layout work together to create a bold and unique statement.
Outback Creative Studio has “night” and “day” themes, emphasized with a rooster graphic
The “night” and “day” button allows the user to switch between themes, a creative and unique presentation reinforced by the central rooster graphic. The graded orange and purple color scheme is rich and unusual, and lends the design a unique look and feel.
Wez Maynard
Right-aligned Graphic Mayhem
Wez Maynard uses offbeat graphics, creative layout and original content phrasing to make his website memorable. The design is completely right-aligned, which is quite unusual to see and feels truly novel. The ribbon sidebar on the left is interesting and unique, and the vintage graphics and blue, textured footer are fun and visually interesting. The quirky messaging is a great example of how to use language to create an impression. This is a nice example of an original, unique and interesting design.
Quirky graphics, and messaging to match
Ryan O’Rourke Presents
Elegant, Dark, Responsive Layout
Rourkery.com features a vivid, majestic, theatrical theme which juxtaposes well with playful typography and colorful graphics. Using a distinct theme can be a good way to ensure that content, graphics and messaging work together in a focused way. The website’s centered logo and navbar are both unusually and elegantly done, aligned in the center and using a subtle navy pattern.
Theatre theme keeps content and graphics focused
Potential downsides to note are the leading of the text, as well as the visibility of the home page link, which is the logo in the center of the header. Notice how well orange is used as the main color across various design elements. The layout and images resolutions also nicely respond to changes in the browser window size, responsive design at its best.
Cooper Graphic Design
Large, Bold Header Graphic
The colors really draw the user into Cooper Graphic Design. The shades of brown, with texture and punches of turquoise, feel very bright and upbeat. The layout is clean and systematic, while the main, large center graphic contrasts with the more subtle background graphics in an interesting, attention-grabbing way. The top-level navigation is also very clear, making this an effective and visually appealing portfolio website. Also notice an interesting background image that lends the page more visual appeal. And don’t forget to resize the browser window, too.
Bold header graphic contrasts with subtler background
One small usability problem, however, might be the tabbed navigation at the bottom of the page. The use of tabs often signifies internal navigation, rather than external. In this case, these tabs seem to link out to external pages, which might confuse users a bit.
It’s Not My Type
A Typography Blog About Typography
It’s Not My Type makes good use of the richness of Web typography—with strong slab serif typography widely used across the various design elements, including the Web form, date and comment areas.
Fonts change as users navigate through the website
The scrolling content panel works pretty well here; the colors and subtle textures are clean, and add visual appeal.
Broken Pencils
Pencil Sketch Illustrations
Broken Pencils, Inc. has a prominent and visually striking logo. Although the navigation is split into bottom and top sections, it doesn’t look redundant since the top is more understated and the bottom uses different colors. The slow color transitions on hover effects on the “Services” page are a nice surprise as well. All of the graphics are simple and modern. The most striking part of the design, however, is the pencil sketch illustrations, in keeping with the “pencil” theme.
Pencil sketch illustrations echo the website theme and company branding
Solid Pink Studios
Big, Bold, Diagonal
Solid Pink Studios takes the pink theme its name suggests, but takes it in a completely unexpected direction; the grumpy rock monster looks like he means business.
The solid pink rock monster is a fun, memorable element
The diagonally-aligned text works best at a fixed width, and could present some display difficulties to users with a small screen; on smaller screen resolutions, the blog link is cut off to the point of nearly being hidden. Overall, the diagonal text alignment is is a fun and memorable way to present content and is very in keeping with the rest of the design. One final note: this is nit-picky, but it does feel a bit odd that the favicon for Solid Pink is green, not pink.
Summary
When creating a memorable website, make sure to pay special attention to the treatment of your design elements. Risk something unusual and creative. A clean, well-structured backdrop for fanciful graphics, creative animations and bold typography can all make the design stand out even more. The more personal and creative you appear, the better your chances of being remembered and selected for your next project.
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